Leadership is a Relationship

Part 2 of “A Leader’s Legacy” discusses the importance of relationships. As stated in the first paragraph, “No matter how much formal power and authority our positions give us, we’ll only leave a lasting legacy if others want to be in that relationship with us.”(p.48) This quote holds true for many leadership roles. Being a leader involves two things, the leader and the followers. I believe both jobs are almost as equally important. It is the job of the leader to delegate tasks in order to complete the overall project, however, if it wasn’t for the hard work of the followers then the tasks will never get done and result in no end product. As a leader, it is your job to make your followers not only respect you but trust you.  In chapter 6, “Leadership is Personal”, the author talks about how to earn trust by ones followers. He explains that leaders should take the time to show others who they really are including their strengths, weaknesses, talents, hopes and more. Even though very good points were made, I would have to disagree on a few of them. While I think it is very important that leaders take the time to open up and be friendly with their followers, I also think it is equally important to stay neutral. In my opinion, one of the worst things a leader can do is to create favorites. Even though that isn’t exactly what the book says, I believe by opening up, a leader develops a risk of favoritism. As long as a leader can share personal information to everyone and keep that neutral mentally, then I believe sharing stories or going out to dinners can be a very good thing for the success of the group. When the leader and those who follow are liked and respected by one another, that’s when the most proficient work is accomplished.

Unfortunately, a well cohesive group isn’t always the case. In some situations a follower may not like the person in charge. But conflict only makes people grow more. Last week we got to learn about how conflict may not always result in something negative. Sometimes there are going to be situations and daily struggles with specific people, but as long as both parties remain respectful, even in a dispute, then they will be able to grow as leaders, followers and individuals.

Being a leader can be a very overwhelming job, but if you have the right personality and ability to guide others then you can do it! One of the best leaders are teachers and that is because they are leading my example every day. Teachers have specific goals in their classrooms that they want to accomplish, and depending on the values of the student, it may be successful or not. The same concept holds true for any leader. They need to be liked, respected, educated and still hold dominance.